What Does a Good Person Do
by aikotters
Summary: As the monster chews on his brain, Pulsa wonders if he is getting what he deserves. A Moon sidestory


_For Digimon Manga/Game Non-Flash 396 - character: Pulsa, warnings for robots, mind control, and violence._

* * *

 _Functionality: 97%._

That was normal, really. Pulsa hadn't had full function in years. His left leg was a little slower than his right, his reproductive system was in shambles, but that was only good when surrounded by a lot of teenagers told procreation was the highest honor and the biggest ticket out of soldierdom was a baby and everyone thought they could handle it.

Spoiler alert, they couldn't.

 _Functionality: 95%._

That was a lot more accurate. But strange. It shouldn't have dropped like that so quickly. But Pulsa didn't have time to worry. He needed to focus on getting Sunshine City back up and running after that weird outage. That was the sign of a good tamer.

And a good tamer may have been only human, so no one operated at peak functionality. But he was designed to, so it was rather frustrating.

Still, all Pulsa could do was wait for his leave to come up and continue performing missions in the meantime. He was not any of his friends. His purpose was the continuation of his birthplace, the protection of his friends, the potential destruction of the world beneath them if need be.

That thought doesn't give him pause, thought it should.

 _Functionality: 84%_

Things weren't blurring, but he needed to get to the residential district. There was no one on this side to relieve him yet, Litton said. What the hell? How was there no one?

She looked sympathetic. It was easy to tell. She still remembered how to wear facial expressions despite not being able to see them anymore.

That was mean. Something was wrong.

 _Functionality: 76%_

He wasn't allowed to see Barone. His girlfriend, his best friend. Kenpa twitched at her name. He wasn't allowed to see anyone from Night Claw. But they were in pain. The thing about Night Claw was that it was for people in pain. Why couldn't he go there?

 _Functionality: 70%_

Tsukino Yuki was here. She wasn't supposed to be here. She smiled at him. She was all smiles, all pieces, all teeth at times.

"I'm here to help," she would say whenever he asked, as he limped after her for answers. The Light Fang colors washed out her hair, her eyes, her soul.

"Unlike how you didn't help my sister," she added one time, turning him into so much ice, so much water.

He couldn't look at her because she was right. She was right, she was right, he had heard her scream and did nothing. He saw Tsukino Yuma's fear and did nothing.

Pulsa knew the truth. He knew because it had died in his bones. He knew that all of them could have helped make this a better world and they didn't. They were created for it and someone decided that that meant less than them being alive.

 _Functionality: 62%_

Chief Glare stopped him at the teleporter on the way to Limit Valley. He stared at him thoughtfully.

"When was the last time you backed up your data?"

Glare hardly ever asked, hardly ever cared about him being a machine. He had a machine niece, he never cared. Why ask now?

Still, Pulsa answered, it was his duty to do so.

"Delete it from upper systems," the man ordered, and then he was gone.

"Man looks as dead as you mate," said patrol, but it didn't reach that person's eyes either.

Pulsa nodded, but he still obeyed.

He was a good soldier. He would obey. He would endure the puzzle around him.

 _Functionality: 58%_

How did he get back?

How did he get home? How are his digimon like this?

What is he doing here? What is he doing here? What is he doing here?

System check. System check.

Panic. Thudding of central, spinning core. AI sluggish. Fingers not responding.

Someone standing in his house. His NaviDigimon slumped in her chair.

Tsukino Yuki sitting on his bed, the bed always made and never used, compared to the charging station with now sparking parts.

"Chief is ready to work with you now," she said, and the world went black, black black.

 _Functionality: 25%_

This was not right. This was not right.

His limbs dragged, but he kept going, away from duty, away from his post. Towards escape, towards freedom. Towards-

Hands. Tens of hands, glowing eyes.

"Don't stop this, Pulsa."

"I'm not stopping anything."

"Fool," Kenpa said sadly, but her hands were the strongest, the most deft. "You fool."

 _Functionality: 0%_

 _Shutting down. Shutting down. Forced restart one._

 _Restart failed._

 _Forced restart two._

 _Error due to failed restart. Beginning virus scan._

 _Scan failed, scan failed._

 _Searching for back up. Searching. Searching._

 _Backup located._

 _Restoring back up._

 _Restoration failed. Backup corrupted. Searching. Searching..._

Pulsa woke up in bed to clear sky and his entire lower body in pieces, to Koh's fingers on his suddenly silver cheek. The hand pulled away, slow and relieved.

"Don't worry buddy," he said. "I'm putting you back together."

"What happened?"

Koh paused, smileed wearily. "You were infected with a virus, most everyone was."

"Not you."

"No." He looked away. "I escaped. You tried to. They just… the legion wasn't happy."

"I thought that was Sayo." Vague bits of data, memories of her voice twice over, angry and tired and wild and just herself.

"Nah." Koh grinned. "But you'll be okay. I've got you."

That was the truth, Pulsa supposed. But that was because Koh was good, and he was not. That is, if there was a reason, why Koh had been able to resist the thrall, and he had not.

But he wouldn't say that. Koh wasn't _that good_ of a person to not get a swelled head at the thought of it.


End file.
